"Christopher Moore - Our Lady of the Fishnet Stockings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore Christopher)

 The bullets had stopped. In mid air. Two feet away, the nun and the child still cowered from the noise
they thought was the sound of their death. The bullets hung there, still. The men dropped their guns and
joined the Colonel in prayer. Sister Octavia looked around and fainted when she saw the bullets hanging
in the air in front of her.
 It was a definite, concrete, tangible, empirically verifiable manifestation of the power of God. It was
proof, at last, that mankind was not doomed to its own devices. It was a miracle.
 Estrella seized the opportunity to throw a third and larger stone which nearly fractured Colonel
Mendez's skull.
 Officially, military advisors from all the world powers did not converge on the site of the miracle and
report back to their respective governments because -- Officially -- they were never there.
Nevertheless, teams of scientists were dispatched to the site and despite strict orders for secrecy they
reported to the world that they had no way short of a miracle to explain the force that held the
two-hundred and seven 7.62 MM. Two hundred and forty grain fully-jacketed hollow point bullets in the
air. Furthermore, they reported that the need for secrecy seemed to be very unimportant in light of what
they had found.
 Pilgrims began filtering in from all over the country and military activity on both sides was suspended.
Military aircraft were removed from the airports to make way for increased commercial traffic carrying
pilgrims from other countries.
 Sister Octavia was flown to the Vatican where she related the story of the miracle to Pope Julius. It
was on Pope J's word that the "stopping of the bullets" as it was being called, would be officially declared
a miracle by the Church. The Pope ordered that a trip be planned that he might view the bullets in
person.
 When the Pope's plane left Rome, Las Vegas had the odds at seven to five for the Pope calling a full
miracle, but because of the large contingent of Cardinals the Pope was traveling with, all bets on Vatican
intramural basketball were suspended until after the trip. As the pope's entourage loaded into land rovers
the odds jumped to two to one for the miracle as the world drew a collective breath of hope. By the time
the Pope's caravan drove into the village no one was betting. Too many had been burned by taking the
last minute longshot against Armstrong's "one small step for man" to risk bucking the odds again.
 Estrella, wearing a pink dress and for the first time in her life, shoes, was waiting for the Pontiff at the
place where the bullets had stopped. She knelt and kissed the Pope's ring and he gave her a somewhat
distracted blessing. The two hundred and seven coppery cones hanging in the air next to her, however
grabbed Pope J's full attention, and much to the chagrin of the traveling Swiss guard, who had traded
helmet and halberd for silk suit and shoulder holster, he stepped in front of the bullets and raised his
arms.
 Ten thousand people who had crowded into the village that day and a billion more who watched on
their televisions at home heard Pope Julius proclaim the "stopping of the bullets" a miracle and the spot
hallowed ground. They heard the Pope promise that the church would build a great shrine around the
bullets so that people might visit and always remember. And as the Pope bowed his head and led the
world in prayer of thanks, they heard Estrella loudly complaining that being shot could not be nearly as
bad as having to wear shoes.
 Nearby, a reporter from a tabloid scribbled down the tentative headline: "Better Shot than Shoed",
says Miracle Girl. That was how it began.



PART II: The Temptation

Though publicly delighted at the miracle, the church was privately vexed that God had chosen such
impious vehicles for His power. Certainly Sister Octavia was true in her faith and a fine representative of
the church in some jerkwater jungle village, but she lacked the presence and eloquence to speak for the